


It's Over

by allofspace



Category: Silicon Valley (TV)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-01
Updated: 2017-06-01
Packaged: 2018-11-07 20:36:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,343
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11066649
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/allofspace/pseuds/allofspace
Summary: Started as an alternate ending for 3x06 "Daily active users". Inspired by this art --> http://eggrpg.tumblr.com/post/160635635394/dont-give-up





	It's Over

**Author's Note:**

> This was supposed to be a short drabble but it got away from me.

"Can I come in?" Jared said as he was already opening the door. 

The sight of Richard fully clothed in the bathtub made his heart sink. And his reaction to that feeling was to turn up the optimism. 

Pipey wasn't all that horrible after-all. They could make it work. He had to believe in Pied Piper -- in Richard -- especially in these times when Richard didn't believe in himself at all. 

"It's over," Richard said, dejectedly. He sat up in the tub and looked like he was about to get out. 

Jared was moving before he knew what he was doing. His words weren't helping Richard and after Gilfoyle pointing out every lie Jared had been telling throughout the day, he was tired of lying. Maybe Pied Piper was over, but he wasn't about to let Richard, his CEO, his best friend, sit in this pink bathtub alone. 

"Jared, what? No, Jared."

Richard stammered in a feeble attempt to stop Jared from entering this awkward situation but Jared wasn't having it. 

"No. Personal space. Jared," Richard continued. It was no use though, Jared was soon seated beside him. His long legs folded as tight as he could manage, knees pressing into his chest. 

"Richard. Where you go, I go."

"Uh, thanks." Richard nodded with tight lips. His usual look when he didn't know how to handle something. 

They sat in silence for a while, Jared watching Richard, and Richard pretending he didn't know Jared was watching him. 

Finally, Richard sighed, throwing his head back against the wall, and wincing when it hit a little too hard. 

"I'm just so tired," he finally said.

"My knees hurt," Jared replied nonchalantly. His tone the same as it would be commenting on the weather. He was out of words with which he could try to comfort Richard. The only thing he had left to give was his company, and Jared was not sure anyone wanted that. 

It seemed only a few minutes later that Richard's head dropped onto Jared's shoulder. Jared's eyes widened with surprise but at the sound of Richard's light snoring, Jared smiled. 

\--

It was of course Gilfoyle that found them in the morning... spooning in the bathtub. 

Richard wasn't sure if it was the flash of light from Gilfoyle snapping a picture or Dinesh's "oh my god" that woke him. 

He wasn't even startled waking up, just confused. His neck hurt from the position he'd slept in, but he felt rested for the first time in a long time. Then he noticed the warmth along his back and the heavy arm across his waist. 

"Uh," Richard started, squeezing his eyes shut and rubbing them. "Not, not what it looks like?" He offered.

"And what is this supposed to look like?" Gilfoyle asked, monotone. Richard was never sure which of his questions were meant to be rhetorical. 

"Um, I'm not, I'm not sure," Richard said, shrugging. He was too relaxed to fight or argue. 

Dinesh had begun to laugh when Gilfoyle turned to glare at him, which surprised Richard. 

"Get out," Gilfoyle said to Dinesh. 

Dinesh began to argue and Gilfoyle pushed him out the door, shutting the door behind him, leaving Richard stunned. 

It was a small gift that he hadn't had to put up with more, but there was photographic evidence and he was sure that wouldn't be the end of it. 

He looked down at the arm still wrapped around him. How had Jared not woken up during that?

He pressed his palm to his eyes, he almost felt too rested, he just wanted to sleep forever. A part of him wanted to just go back to sleep, see how long he could hide in this bathroom, how long Jared could stay asleep to avoid this awkward conversation. Richard suddenly regretted thinking about that. He didn't want to have an awkward discussion, or the dynamic between him and Jared to be strained. 

He decided he would try to slip out of Jared's warm grip and escape while he still had some dignity. 

He turned to try and lift Jared's arm gently, hoping not to disturb him so he could get out of the tub. But as he turned he saw Jared wasn't asleep after all. His eyes were only half open but he was staring at Richard. A small smile crossed his face, but it wasn't a happy one. It was uncertain, like he wasn't sure if he'd done something wrong and didn't know what was going to happen next. A smile that asked Richard what he was going to do. 

"Oh, hi Jared," Richard said. He laughed awkwardly and smoothed some of his hair. 

"Hello Richard," Jared replied, his eyes starting to dart in different directions. 

"I'm going to get out now," Richard said, pointing toward the bathroom door. 

"Okay." As if they were just having a normal conversation. But Jared's arm was still around Richard, and Richard had to pick it up before Jared ripped it away as if he'd been burned. "Sorry." There was a definite panic in Jared's tone, but Richard didn't know what to do about it. 

"Okay," Richard repeated as he stepped out of the bathtub. Failing miserably at trying to be graceful. 

He walked out of the bathroom without looking back, and awkwardly shut the bathroom door after debating whether to keep it open or closed. 

He couldn't go out to the computer room right now, where the guys were inevitably sitting and thinking up ways to make fun of him and Jared. He went into his room and laid on the floor. He'd already ruined Pied Piper, he really hoped he hadn't ruined his friendship with Jared. 

\--

Richard really hadn't meant to make it a habit. 

He had no idea how it happened, really. Only he sort of did. He was subconsciously sabotaging himself into these situations. 

After the bathtub incident, Richard was surprised that Jared was acting completely normal the next time he saw him. Richard might have thought it had all been a dream. Even Gilfoyle and Dinesh had no comments on what they'd seen. But that in itself was suspicious. 

A few nights later, Richard was working late and Jared had just brought back coffee. Richard was working in his room at his desk there, where he found it easiest to concentrate. Jared put the tray of coffees on the desk, then climbed up Richard's bed to sit atop it. 

"Thanks," Richard said. "You really don't have to stay up with me you know." 

"I know. I want to," Jared said cheerily. "It's a wondrous thing to see a genius at work. It's thrilling!"

Richard looked away. He never knew how to react to Jared's praise, so he usually just ignored it. Why did Jared have so much faith in him? Why did Jared like him so much?

"Right. Okay. It's not... that exciting." Richard shrugged. And everyone was right about how awful he was at talking when he was nervous. He thought about putting his headphones on, but he could feel Jared watching him. "I was just thinking I might take a break anyway," he said. 

He climbed up the bed and Jared moved over so they could sit side by side. It was like Jared's presence relaxed him. Richard smiled to himself at the idea, that probably wasn't something Jared ever heard. There was something ironic about the idea of Jared, uptight and tightly wound Jared, being a relaxing presence. 

His eyes felt heavy and he almost felt guilt this time. Last time he hadn't known what would happen, but this time there was a small, very small part of him, that hoped. They sat beside each other in silence once again. 

Richard started chewing his lip. This was a stupid idea. It was too awkward now; awkward that it had happened, and that they hadn't talked about it, and that Richard wanted it to happen again. He was about to make up an excuse and get off the bed, get Jared to leave, when he looked over and saw Jared was already asleep. His feet still hung off the edge of the bed, but he was leaned all the way over so his head was on a pillow. Richard looked around, he felt like he was stealing, like he might get caught red-handed. But the door was shut, and he was tired, so he shimmied back toward the wall, and lifted Jared's legs onto the bed. Then he laid down on his side, suddenly alert as his heart raced. The bed was so small, so he couldn't be blamed for resting his forehead against Jared's back. Or for wrapping his arm around Jared's waist to make sure he wouldn't fall over the edge in his sleep.

\--

Richard was almost annoyed when he woke up. He was facing the wall and there was a warm pressure at his back. 

"Why am I always the little spoon?" Richard mumbled softly. He hadn't expected a response. 

"Well," Jared replied equally as soft. Richard went still. "It is generally based on size, and I am the taller one, so it stands to reason I would be the bigger spoon."

"Right. Yeah," Richard replied. Eloquent as always. He cleared his throat awkwardly. At least he wasn't able to see Jared's face. This would be so much more difficult. "So, should we talk about this?"

"If you would like to Richard." Jared spoke in his usual gleeful way, but Richard could hear the undertone of fear there. 

"Or not. It's cool. Whatever,” Richard quickly amended. He would feel awkward enough if Jared had been comfortable with it, but if Jared didn’t want to talk about it, Richard would be a bumbling mess. 

“Oh. Okay,” Jared said. Could Richard hear disappointment there? Sometimes he thought Jared was hopelessly transparent, but other times he just couldn’t understand the guy. 

A few seconds passed. Richard was extremely aware of his surroundings and now did not know how to get out of the situation. Jared’s arm was once again around his waist, unmoving, and seeming heavier the more he concentrated on it. 

“Well, I should probably get up and check on the guys,” Richard said. 

“Yes, I think that is a good idea,” Jared agreed.

After a minute of awkward fumbling and climbing around each other, they were both standing on the ground and Richard turned and left without a word, leaving Jared behind. 

Gilfoyle and Dinesh were already at their computers, typing away quietly. 

“Hey guys,” Jared announced as he came into the room. He tried to act casual and lean on a chair, but it spun as he leaned and he almost fell over. He cleared his throat and crossed his arms instead.

“Have a good sleep?” Gilfoyle asked without looking up from his screen. 

And there it was, Richard was sure the teasing would ensue. 

“What? Oh, yeah. It was okay, you know. Really tired.” Sometimes Richard wished he could just press a button and turn off his ability to ramble. 

Dinesh finally turned around. “Oh Richard, have you seen Jared? I have a question for him.” Gilfoyle raised an eye at Dinesh. 

“Uh, nope,” Richard said. “No, haven’t seen him. Have you checked the garage? That is where Jared sleeps, right?”

Richard heard a door open, did the math and knew that behind him Jared had just walked out of his bedroom, as if on cue. 

Richard did not turn around. Just kept his lips tight until he heard the garage door open and shut. All he could do now was wait for the teasing, this was sure to push them over the edge. Dinesh was staring at him, and Gilfoyle was still staring at his computer, though the typing had stopped. 

“Okay, I’ll check the garage,” Dinesh said after a painfully long silence. 

Richard couldn’t handle this anymore. Them not teasing him was almost worse than what they might say. 

“Okay. What the hell? You’re just gonna act like that didn’t happen? Why are you guys being so weird. You have nothing to say about that? Really, nothing?” Richard had his eyebrows raised expectantly. 

Another silent moment passed. “Nope,” Gilfoyle said and went back to typing. Dinesh stared at Gilfoyle. And Richard continued to be confused, so he went to the kitchen to get some breakfast. 

He successfully avoided Jared all day and he didn’t want to think about how easy that was when Jared usually acted like his shadow.

Richard was in the kitchen making himself dinner when Gilfoyle came in and leaned against a counter, silently watching him. 

“You want me to ask what’s going on with you and Jared,” he finally said.

“What? No I don’t. Nothing’s going on so…” Richard shook his head, trying to sound convincing, but he wasn’t even convincing himself. 

“Yes you do.”

“What do you want, Gilfoyle?” Richard asked, losing his patience. 

“Look, Dinesh and I don’t care if you and Jared are fucking as long as it doesn’t get in the way of the company,” Gilfoyle said nonchalantly and arms crossed infront of his chest. 

Richard gaped. “What! No. What? I – No, it’s… what!? No!” He started laughing almost maniacally. He didn’t know if Gilfoyle was serious or not, but regardless, he couldn’t believe that he’d just said that!

“No, no,” Richard finally got out. “Uh, we are not, uh… having sex.” Richard had almost said “sleeping together” and that would have just been a blatant lie. 

Gilfoyle only raised an eyebrow. “Look, I know this is probably hard for you to process. You’re in a lot of denial right now. That’s why I made sure Dinesh didn’t say anything about it.”

“No, Gilfoyle. I’m going to stop you there. There is nothing going on. Feel free to tease us! We fell asleep in a bathtub together, that’s all!”

“And in your bedroom?” Gilfoyle asked. Definitely rhetorical this time, but Richard didn’t care.

“Yes! Yes, in fact, that is what happened. We are just… very tired. We’ve both been working very hard. We just… accidentally fell sleep. Twice.” It didn’t sound very convincing out loud. “Okay. I’m leaving. I have to leave,” Richard said. He couldn’t even process the fact that Gilfoyle seemed absolutely convinced that Richard and Jared were in a sexual relationship. That was insane!

That night, when Richard got home after wandering around for a couple of hours, he went to find Jared in the garage. He hated the garage and felt awful about Jared sleeping here, but he never knew what to do about it so he tried not to think about it. 

“Uh, Jared? Hello?” He called into the garage. 

“Richard! How are you?” Jared popped up from his cot and looked happy to see him.

That made Richard feel at least a little better. “Uh, good, okay. I’m okay. How are you?” 

“Good.” Jared stood there smiling at him. “Can I help you with something, Richard?”

“Can we talk?” Richard asked. He needed to get this over with. Even if Jared didn’t find this awkward, Richard knew his brain wouldn’t be able to let it go. He’d make a mountain out of a molehill in no time if they didn’t talk now. 

He just had to make it clear that it couldn’t happen anymore. But how did he even start that conversation?

Jared gestured to his cot. “Would you like to sit?”

“Sure,” Richard said. Jared sat on one end and Richard almost sat down on the other, before suddenly taking a jump back. “No! No, sorry, I’m good. I’ll stand. I feel like standing,” Richard said, nodding to himself. 

Jared looked down at his hands. “Okay,” he said quietly. 

Richard’s heart sank. He was being ridiculous. Sitting beside Jared didn’t mean they would fall asleep again. The first time had been an accident, and the second time had been Richard’s fault anyway. He sighed and sat down, and ignored the fact that Jared was now staring at him intently. 

“Uh, so I just wanted to… talk,” Richard said. He was looking anywhere except Jared. The garage really was gross. And cold now that the servers weren’t running. “Wow, how do you sleep here?” He asked, distracted by his surroundings. 

“Oh, it’s not so bad. I’ve had much worse,” Jared replied. He was smiling as usual and his off-hand comments about his horrible childhood always gave Richard pause. He never knew what to do or say. He wasn’t a therapist, he wasn’t good at talking about that sort of thing. 

“Oh, jesus,” Richard said, pressing his fingers into his eyes. “Okay, come on, let’s go talk somewhere else.” Richard got up and Jared followed obediently. He led them to his own bedroom. 

“Okay, let’s try this again,” Richard started. Jared waited patiently. “So, yeah, we need to, stop falling asleep together, right?” Richard didn’t know how that ended up as a question. 

“If that is what you want, Richard.” 

Jesus, what kind of response was that? “Is that… is that not what you want? Wasn’t that a bit weird?”

Jared cocked his head to the side. “I’m sorry if I made you feel uncomfortable, Richard.”

“What? No. Look, it’s not anything you did. It’s not your fault,” Richard started laughing again. What a stupid reaction to being in an awkward situation. “Jared, I’m asking what you think of all this? Does it bother you? Jesus, Gilfoyle thought we were fucking each other!”

“And you were ashamed when he thought that?” Jared asks.

“What? No! I mean, he was wrong, that’s all. Isn’t it weird that we keep falling asleep together? Jared, please, I’m just asking you a question.”

“Well… I think we both do a lot of “weird” things,” Jared answered, using air quotes. “If I’m honest, I try not to worry about being weird as long as I’m… happy.”

Was Jared blushing?  
“Happy? So… it made you happy. So you don’t care if it’s… weird.” Richard’s brain was racing.

“I care if you think it’s weird,” Jared offered. He always wanted to please Richard so badly. It made Richard feel so guilty sometimes.

“No. I… I guess I could be overanalyzing. I tend to do that,” Richard said. He smiled sheepishly. Maybe this didn’t have to be weird. Maybe he was the one making it weird. Last night had been the best sleep he’d had in a long time afterall. 

Jared smiled at him. 

“Are you tired?” Richard asked, unsure what else to say at this point. 

Jared just nodded, looking surprised. 

Richard didn’t want to ask, but after forcing this conversation upon them, he knew he had to. 

“Jared, do you want to… sleep in here? With me, I mean? If, you know, if we’re not making a big deal out of it, and it makes you happy. And I mean, I think it’s helping me sleep so…” Richard was rambling again. Thankfully, Jared spoke up.

“Yes. I’d like that very much.” Jared sounded pleased. 

The next day, Jared and Richard both left the bedroom feeling rested, and walked to the kitchen together.

“Oh look, the lovebirds have surfaced,” Gilfoyle said. 

“Very funny,” Richard said. It was oddly comforting that Gilfoyle had apparently decided it was okay to mock them now. 

Richard didn’t know why he’d been freaking out so much. This was fine. Everything was going to be fine. Until he felt Jared’s hand at the small of his back, guiding him over to the stove. It sent a spark up his spine that stunned him. He pulled out a frying pan and began cooking breakfast before Richard could even ask what he was doing. 

Gilfoyle watched with a raised eyebrow. Richard pulled his sweater sleeves over his hands, played with the seams, and tried not to think. Don’t overanalyze, he told himself. It was no use. Between Gilfoyle’s presumptuous glare, the spot on his back that still burned from where Jared had touched him, and the gleeful look on Jared’s face as he cooked them both breakfast, Richard just knew he was in trouble.

**Author's Note:**

> to be continued maybe? this might turn into a series. (this is my first silicon valley fic so pls leave comments if you liked it <3 <3)


End file.
